Four Color Thursday

I’m going to start with my own project that I’m working on. I can’t say too much about it, but since Niles has already said part of it… then you probably know I’m doing the next 30 Days of Night mini-series… but I’m writing it solo this time. Well, there is an added pressure of playing in someone else’s universe and still giving the fans of the series what they want. The first script is in and the artist is working away on it… can’t say who yet but I’m sure an official announcement is forth coming. I started working on the second script today and I’m taking an odd approach… I’m writing it backwards. I wrote the last scene first and the scene prior to it second. So I have the last third of the book already written. I think the last scene of this book is going to make or break this series… people will either say “wow” or “when is Steve coming back”. So I tackled that first so it could end up being however many pages it needed to be. I let the scene flow to its own pace and conclusion. I even cut it a little earlier that I thought I would but when I got to a certain point it was… “End the book here, anything else will just be anti-climatic”. So the rest of that scene will now start book three.

The scene prior to the last scene was not in the original synopsis… it was something that came to me while I was sleeping last night. I just felt that this issue needed a pure horror moment that hopefully will leave people creeped out. Hell, it creeped me out while I was writing it. And it was a good place to add in those curse words that Niles fans expect. (That’s a running joke between Steve and I… I don’t use curse words much at all in my writing.)

Now it’s going to be interesting to see the rest of the issue meld together. I’m thinking I’m going to be a page or two short for what I have planned right now… but then again I don’t have any large panel pages so I can probably gain that page or two just by giving the artist more room to draw. I think he would appreciate that.

Here are some pointers for all you who want to write comics. When you are approaching a story, make sure you know how it begins and ends. Take the time to know not only all the major plot points you want to include but also the number of scenes. The more you work out the structure of a story prior to starting the script, the better your story will come out and stay focused. Outlining and synopsis do not take away from the creative process. Even though I have all five issues laid out and approved by the editor, I still have the creative freedom to add a scene here and there that help move the story along. I know a lot of people that like the idea of just writing a script off the top of their head… that may work well for prose, but when you are working in an industry where you have 22 pages to tell a story and you need to bring the reader in and make them want to come back for more… doing free form writing is just going to drive you nuts.

Now I better get back to the script.